How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
A brilliant and brave investigation by Michael Pollan, author of five New York Times best sellers, into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences
When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists inadvertently catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research.
A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.
Editor's Note
Mind-altering memoir…
The psychedelic drug phenomenon is well underway, and Michael Pollan has taken on the task of explaining its history and its impact on the brain and society, often from a first-person perspective. Riveting, inspiring, and sure to open minds.
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Reviews for How to Change Your Mind
525 ratings41 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a fascinating book with a wealth of information and insight into the potential for psychedelic drugs to impact people and society as a whole.
The author does a brilliant job of presenting a subject with a lot of baggage in a thorough and thoughtful way. He presents a tremendous amount of information in a very easy to understand manner. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Although, there is way too much detail for me, the story of the research into psychedelics is fascinating. I probably would have complained if there weren’t all these details as well, because all the details show the seriousness of the research. As a person who just discovered that cannabis isn’t destroying me, but is managing my pain, I appreciate knowing reliable research is going on.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5AMAZING. JUST AMAZING.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma years ago, it changed my life. This book could be life changing for many people too. It is a detailed look at using guided psychedelic therapy to treat a wide-range of mental health issues, including but not limited to the fears of the terminally ill, addiction, and treatment-resistant depression. Clearly the mental health field needs to find some different solutions, because what we have now isn't working. How to Change Your Mind is a highly readable and interesting account of the history, present use, and future possibilities of LSD, psilocybin (a word I never remember how to say or spell) and a few other more obscure drugs. Like me, Michael Pollan eschews pseudo-science and new age flakiness, and thus he takes an evidence-based, factual approach to this topic. I look forward to a future when I can visit a guided psychedelic therapy spa, although I'm not holding my breath. Maybe in Europe . . . Recommended for: Everyone. The people who should read it most--those who think psychedelics are horrible, dangerous substances, won't be open to it though. Otherwise, anyone interested in mental healthy, philosophy, psychology, alternative ways of looking at the world . . . Why I Read This Now: a few weeks ago I found out Michael Pollan, an author I adore, is coming to Vancouver. I thought it would be best if I read his latest book before the event. Yay, me, I finished it today and see him tomorrow night. Rating: Because this isn't a topic that is particularly pertinent to my life at this time, and because I didn't need over 400 pages on this topic . . . 4 stars.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An engrossing read and comprehensive summary of what we know so far of the self and mind through the lens of neuroscience, psychotherapy, Buddhism and psychedelics. Too bad Pollan still seems close-minded to the idea of a loving God. The evidence is everywhere, and in everything.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was late at night, reading up in my bunk from the pages of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” that I was first introduced to the work of Michael Pollan. That was ten years ago during my time as a student farmer at the Farm School in North Orange, Massachusetts.Two years ago, I had the archetypal Berkeley experience—while staying with a friend at his housing coop, we bumped into Pollan at the farmer’s market.I share these experiences because the help to explain the utmost credence I give his work. There are few people’s scholarship I appreciate as much as Pollan’s.With these caveats, I’ll state that I found “How to Change Your Mind,” nothing short of magnificent. At the core of the text is the question, “how do we derive meaning?” or more specifically, “is meaning internally or externally mandated?” Illustrating some of my cosmology, I would answer that these are one in the same.I’ve had a fascination with the numinous since youth. I don’t hesitate to describe my childhood as full of magical significance. It is these early experiences that often serve as touchstones for me in adulthood, reminding me that if I’m not surrounding by meaning and significance I’m doing something wrong.Having been brought up in the Fourth Way, a spiritual lineage founded by G. I. Gurdjieff, I’ve long been aware of the importance of the ability to cultivate different states of consciousness. According to Pollan’s research, psychedelics can be an excellent tool on this pathway.One of my mentors in my journey surrounding consciousness has been Bill Plotkin—depth psychologist and founder of the Animas Valley Institute. During my Yearlong Soulcraft Intensive with Plotkin, I was exposed to ancient techniques of stepping into communion with an animate world (without the assistance of any mind-altering substances).This book does a lot in not very many pages—covering the hidden history of psychedelics, describing personal experiences with these substances, reviewing the scientific research, and exploring the neurology of psychedelics.Before I picked up this book, I thought psychedelics came onto the scene in the United States in the 1960s with the hippie movement and Timothy Leary. But it turns out that they really hit the US in the ‘50s, championed by a vanguard movement including business leaders, prominent members of the Catholic Church, Hollywood, the medical establishment, and the CIA (in their notorious MKUltra mind control programs). Yasha Levine is right in more ways than he knows with his 2018 book, “Surveillance Valley;” the “counterculture” scene of the Bay Area gots its start with the elite, not with the masses.Moving on to the medical relevance of this book, pure psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin) have no discernible physical effects, making them far safer than both commonplace legal drugs (tobacco, alcohol), and commonplace medical drugs (opioids). They’ve shown phenomenal ability—when administered by a trained practitioner—to help the dying face existential crisis, and helping with addiction and depression.From the neurological perspective, psychedelics support us to be more perceptive, and less judgmental. Whereas our brains under normal conditions are constantly disregarding sensory inputs and jumping to conclusions via habitual shortcuts, psychedelics can help us see the world (and ourselves) in a new light. Psychedelics can assist us in forming new neural pathways, both to get out of ruts, and to step into creativity.Being an atheist, Pollan’s philosophical musing come up short, although he does at least earmark some interesting theories, such as that we can exist without a “self,” and that consciousness and animacy may be distributed across matter and the universe, rather than something the human mind possesses. For further reading on this subject, the seeker might explore the writings of David Abrams. To be fair, these questions are tangental to the core of Pollan’s material.If I’m truthful with myself, I was lightly judgmental of psychedelics before reading this book, and all of that internal resistance has now been dispelled. Like so many ideas that were introduced in the postwar period, which are only now making it to the mainstream, Pollan’s cheerleading may herald the coming of a new age for psychedelics, a long-awaited return for which we should all be grateful.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating and informative book. His accounts of his personal experiences were fun to read and made a non-fiction book, not usually my wont, so much more enjoyable.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating and easy to read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Like all other Michael Pollan's books I have read, this one is very clearly written.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really loved the way the author painted his journey.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Long long book but learned so much and want to find out more.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A case about using psychedelics for recreational use. Not to a level of convincing but defines that this is different than alcohol, other drugs. At the end I still think this is matter of freedom of individuals and their responsibilities.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely incredible! These tools are a true gift to humanity, and they will be both a necessity and the catalyst for true change in years to come. Incredibly grateful for this book and the compounds it describes. Thank you Mr. Pollan, for your accessible yet enjoyable writing style, for keeping an open mind, and for documenting the storied and somewhat troubled past of psychedelics. But most of all, thank you for presenting these substances in an honest light, and for realizing their potential to help humanity shape the future. What a long, strange trip it’s been. Much love.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The title is "How to change your mind."
It did. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Phenomenal book that gives an excellent summary of the history of psychedelics as well as the potential for their future
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While I have no personal experience with entheogens/hallucinogens/psychedelics, I see nothing wrong with their administration under professional guidance. Pollan shows how they have helped him and others gain profound insights about themselves and their place in the cosmos. Some have been able to overcome addiction, depression and past trauma. I believe they open people to a spiritual dimension otherwise opaque to them. An interesting introduction to a controversial subject. Well worth reading and discussing.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed the read, interesting and informative. Lots of info.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating exploration into possibilities of the mind. Well researched and written.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Michael Pollan has one of the most realistic and yet open minded views of the world. This book is phenomenal. An excellent overview on how psychedelics can assist you on finding yourself while losing your ego.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life changing. As one whos had direct expetiences but aware of no scientific explanation, this book shed a professional light on a previously untamed wilderness
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent narration with great insight into the potential use of psychedelics for therapy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Clear. Inforative. Life changing work in a field for the 21-century.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazingness! Loved every second of this audiobook! Definitely a relisten!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely tremendous. A fun and enlightening read. Pollan changes our perspective on the world again!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This fascinating and revelatory book about psychedelic drugs has changed everything I thought I knew about them -- what they do, what they risk, and what the history of research and regulation actually was. I came of age in the 1960's, but I never tried these drugs: too scared. As time went by, I became very afraid of them, and totally unaware that a lot of research had actually been done on the drugs, suggesting very positive uses. Pollen goes into that history, and -- even more interesting -- goes into his own experience of these drugs. He is clearly an evangelist for psychedelics, but I find his arguments (and experience) convincing. It all leaves me very curious. At 78, this book may have pointed me in a new direction.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monthly thematic read #3 (counterculture/drugs for April)
An interesting book about the history of psychedelics, and goes in depth into their utility for medical treatment and spiritual discovery. Well written, and well researched. Good mixture of objective reporting of the facts, and mixing in personal experiences and perspectives. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Such a good writer! It’s been many decades since I’ve had any psychedelic drugs but his descriptions are spot on, in my memory. His discussions about the relationship between chemistry and mind are very good. Very interesting history of psychedelic drugs and society.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fascinating history; very interesting personal experiences by the author; foundering, repetitive last third of the book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a thorough and balanced update about the revitalized practice of using psychedelics to open new windows of therapeutic insight. Pollan covers the history, the contemporary trends and his how experiences, which were prompted by his research. It seems like this field of study and practice has turned a beneficial corner after decades of political and cultural avoidance.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book - and great narration by the author as well! Highly recommended.